The World’s First Shopping Mall Where Everything Is Recycled
The big shopping mall isn't the usual example of sustainability. Yet, ReTuna in Sweden bucks both the mass production and mindless consumption, changing shopping behaviours in a climate-smart way. Everything sold there is sourced from recycled materials.
Opened in 2015, ReTuna strives to be a green role model in Sweden, a country famous for its commitment to its recycling policy. The mall is located right next to a recycling centre, where the visitors can drop off their items. This also means that the objects left in this centre are then given new life by first being fixed, and next distributed to the shops in the mall.
However, ReTuna is not only a marketplace, but it aims to be a public educator too. It organizes events, workshops, lectures, and theme days focused on sustainability. Furthermore, the mall also plays an important role in generating work places for immigrants. Many of the stores take part in a national programme subsidizing the salaries of new settled Swedish residents, while also offering adult education courses on design-based recycling.
Although ReTuna is the first mall of its kind, it is also a part of a global phenomenon focused on encouraging people to stop feeling the need to constantly buy new products, and to donate things they no longer need. Nevertheless, the ReTuna’s philosophy doesn’t only attract a broad target group and promotes knowledge about sustainability. The Swedish mall can be then a model for moving towards circular economy, that also tries to support the community.
